Find an Exciting Opportunity

Actions students can take now to help start their career

I remember thinking: “There’s no way I’m doing this for the rest of my life.” Half-awake, I sat there watching tired, quiet and stressed lawyers scurrying around the drab office in the Santa Barbara Superior Court. As I twirled in my chair, I pictured my future self: bad suit, tons of files in my arm, worrying about the next court proceeding. I remember thinking: “If I speak at a normal volume right now, everyone will get pissed off. I need to get out of here.” So I did.

I would’ve never found out I didn’t want to be a lawyer unless I had that internship experience. I would have spent three years and thousands of dollars in order to find out, later. After that experience, I was compelled to discover what I wanted to be after school. During my college career, I learned some things that helped me find an exciting opportunity afterwards.

So print out this page, go to the beach and relax a bit. Here are my top five tips for finding your future:

1. Get involved as much as possible. Hard work pays off. It really does – the more blood, sweat and tears you devote to building work experience, developing a network and applying for jobs, the more likely you’ll find an opportunity that excites you.

In many cases, simply going to class, taking midterms and finishing your major will not teach you the necessary skills needed to enter the working world. It’s up to you to understand how your favorite industry functions, who the major companies are, what the typical jobs look like, and to learn the specific skills needed to do those jobs.

The best way to do this is to, again, get involved. Find a job that allows you to create new things, work on real world problems, and meet professionals outside of campus. Join a student club that is involved in the particular industry you’re interested in. Intern for professional you admire and would like to be someday. In my case, I worked at UCSB Recreational Sports as the Marketing Coordinator; I was involved in the student advertising club SB Media Group, and I interned at an advertising agency in downtown Santa Barbara.

2. Build an online presence. A personal brand. A professional identity. A big green arrow pointing straight to you. Whatever you want to call it, you need to establish a presence online to make it easier for employers to find you.

Think about it: human resource managers and recruiters are very busy. They receive hundreds of resumes and cover letters each day, hundreds of phone calls and letters each week, and they attend countless networking events with thousands of students just like you. How are they supposed to remember your name and the face that goes with it?

Easy: be everywhere. And let them know about it.

Create a personal website to display your recent projects for school and work. Make a LinkedIn profile and have people recommend your skills. Start a Twitter account and share news on the industry you want to enter (this way employers see you’re passionate about the job – more about this later). Get a YouTube account and comment on videos that interest you.

The goal is to make it very easy for employers to “meet” you without ever talking to you. Search your name on Google. What comes up? Employers will do this too, so you want the first page to be filled with all things YOU.

3. Build a “real-life” presence. The best way to get noticed is to meet people in person (surprising huh?). If the hiring managers, recruiters and current employees meet and talk with you at some point during your college career, they will recall those memories when they see your job application later on. You know how people say “It’s all about who you know.” Well, why not get to know the hiring manager at your favorite company?

It’s never too early to start conducting informational interviews. These discussions are very helpful when deciding your career path. These situations allow students to “interview” people working in the industry and find out the pros and cons of their job, how they got there and what to watch out for. It’s a good way to show off your favorite work and talk about interests you.

First, start with your friends that have recently graduated and have jobs in the industry you want to enter. Tell them you want to follow their footsteps and you’d like to ask a few questions. Your friends wouldn’t turn you down would they? Meet with them over coffee and discuss their daily tasks, how they found their job, what they would have done differently, and for any networking advice they might have.

Then -- this is important -- ask them to connect you with two or three more people at their company. See if your friend knows anyone with the very job you want. When you email these new people, say “I’ve been getting great advice from my friend Joe about the advertising industry and what to expect at work. He said you’d be the best person to meet to learn more about media planning. Do you have time to meet for coffee?” After you talk with them, ask for more names. And the process continues.

Follow up with these people occasionally after you meet with them. Send them emails to announce completed projects or good news. Follow them on Twitter. Connect on LinkedIn. See, it all comes together!

4. Attend career development workshops. Especially the ones where recruiters or industry professionals are running the show. These events are crucial for building your “real-life” presence. These events teach students how to create great resumes and cover letters, how to nail an interview and ways to make an awesome project portfolio.

Most of these events have a “networking” session at the end – this time alone is worth the price of admission. Meet as many people as you can and conduct mini-informational interviews. Make sure you have enough personal business cards, resumes and portfolios, and have your two-minute “elevator pitch” down pat. Try to set up informational interview meetings for later!

I attended several of these events over the past two years. When I went in for job interviews this past month, I recognized most of my interviewers from past workshops. Most of them remembered me. This helped break the ice by providing a great “small-talk” topic to start the interview with. Also, the interviewer knew I was passionate and genuinely interested in the advertising industry because I was at a career workshop (when, that weekend, I could have been at Floatopia).

5. HAVE FUN! AND SHOW IT! As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve used the words “enthusiasm”, “passion” and “interest” a lot. Over the past few months, I’ve learned that one’s personality, energy and genuine excitement for a company or industry is more important than a resume or LinkedIn profile.

I’ve seen people with amazing resumes and loads of skill get turned away interview after interview. These people were there “just to get a job”, “to get money” or because they “didn’t want to move back home.” Experienced interviewers can spot this easily. Yes, these students wanted a job, but they didn’t show they really wanted this job.

To get an exciting opportunity, be enthusiastic about what you want to do. Be passionate about it and always think about it. Let people know what your interests are and what you’re good at.

In interviews, put on a smile. Do some research on the company and their previous work. Relax and laugh a bit and everything will work out.

Good luck!